Guide
Damp, your comunidad de propietarios and your seguro de hogar
If water is reaching your flat through the façade, roof, terrat or a shared riser, the source may be in a common element. This page explains the community's conservation duty, why the technical cause still matters, and how the issue usually moves through the building.
Where it usually appears
What you can check yourself
When to contact us
You can write in English — we reply in English. We usually reply quickly. If we are on a job, it may take up to 2–3 hours.
The short answer: find out which element the water is in
If a technical assessment confirms that water is entering through the façade, roof, a terrat, a party structure or a shared bajante, the source is in a common element. Article 553-44.1 of the Codi civil de Catalunya requires the comunidad de propietarios — the owners collectively — to conserve common elements so the building meets structural, habitability, accessibility, watertightness (estanquidad) and safety conditions.
That does not decide every question of responsibility or cost by itself. The cause, title, exclusive-use arrangements, maintenance, misuse and the wording of any insurance policy can change the allocation. Establish the source before turning a stain pattern into a legal conclusion.
Nothing follows automatically, though. The duty is clear, enforcing it is slow, and Catalan law gives an owner no quick judicial shortcut over damp. What pays off is establishing which element the water is in, in writing, with dates, and a technical view of the cause early.
This is general information about Catalan and Spanish law and about how home insurance is usually structured. It is not legal, financial or insurance advice, and NoMoho provides none of those — we treat surfaces, and we are not lawyers or loss adjusters. The Oficines de l’Habitatge de Barcelona give free legal advice to residents.
Which parts of the building are not yours
Article 553-41 CCCat lists them: the plot, gardens, structures, façades and roofs, halls, stairs, lifts, and in general the installations and services serving the flats. Your flat, and the installations inside it serving only you, are yours (art. 553-38). Note the statute — the national Ley de Propiedad Horizontal does not apply in Catalonia, so a page quoting “article 10 LPH” was written for Madrid.
Symptoms do not prove causes, but they point:
| What you are seeing | What it usually points to |
|---|---|
| Damp high on an outside wall or under a window, a day or two after rain | Façade or window seal — common |
| Staining on a top-floor ceiling that tracks the weather | Cubierta or terrat — common even under exclusive use |
| A damp column in one bathroom or kitchen corner, shared with the flats above | A shared riser or bajante — common |
| A spreading ceiling patch, worst after the neighbour showers | Private plumbing above — that owner’s |
| Black spotting on cold corners, whatever the weather | Condensation — a different argument |
Indications to test, not findings: a report from an arquitecto técnico settles cause. If yours looks like the last two rows, what ceiling mould usually means is the better start.
Who the comunidad and the administrador actually are
The comunidad is the owners acting collectively, not a company and not a landlord. If you own your flat you are part of it — “the community should pay” also means “we should pay”.
Decisions belong to the junta de propietarios. Works required for habitability, accessibility, safety or energy and water efficiency pass by simple majority of owners and quotas (art. 553-25.2.b) CCCat) — worth knowing when you are told the building would never agree to repair a façade.
The administrador de fincas is a hired manager: correspondence, quotes, insurance claims, contractors. They are who you deal with, but spending is the junta’s decision — so “the community hasn’t approved it” may be a real constraint, not a brush-off.
How a claim actually moves
- Report it in writing to the administrador, with dated photographs and when the damp appears, and ask for it on the next junta agenda.
- Harden the proof if it stalls. A burofax with both acuse de recibo and certificación de contenido proves what you said and when; a certified letter proves only that an envelope arrived. Mechanics in how to put damp in writing in Spain.
- Access may need to be arranged. Article 553-39 CCCat regulates restrictions needed for conservation work on common elements and the repair of resulting damage. How it applies to a particular flat or refusal is a legal question; record the request rather than trying to resolve it yourself.
- The junta votes and the work is contracted.
When the comunidad will not move
Keep the chronology, photographs, technical opinion, correspondence and any junta resolution together. Civil and municipal routes exist, but the correct one depends on ownership, cause, the decision already taken and the remedy sought. Barcelona’s Oficines de l’Habitatge or a lawyer can review the actual file; this page does not prescribe a claim or filing procedure.
Seguro de hogar and the perito
Policies are not standardised, and only the condicionado of the actual policy governs. Three may be in play — yours, a neighbour’s and the community’s — and where the source is a common element, the community’s often counts.
| Situation | Usual market position |
|---|---|
| Sudden accidental escape of water — burst pipe, failed appliance, overflow | Typically covered; the core daños por agua peril |
| Gradual damp, condensation, rising damp (capilaridad) | Typically excluded — no sudden accidental event |
| Filtration through a façade or roof blamed on worn waterproofing | Commonly excluded as lack of maintenance; where anything is paid it is often only the interior damage |
| Mould as such | Commonly excluded, or covered only as a consequence of a covered peril |
What decides most damp claims is sudden and accidental versus gradual and maintenance, plus which element the water came from. “Home insurance covers damp” and “home insurance never covers damp” are both wrong.
The perito gives the insurer a view on origin, extent and valuation; that opinion is not a judicial finding. If experts disagree, the Ley de Contrato de Seguro contains a formal procedure with short deadlines. Ask for advice promptly rather than relying on a general summary here, especially where cover itself is disputed.
How this differs from arguing with your landlord
Different counterparty, different statute. A tenant’s claim on a landlord is contractual, under article 21 LAU: the repairs needed to keep the home habitable are the landlord’s, and that duty cannot be contracted away. Against a community you are on the 553 articles, where the decision-maker is a meeting.
They overlap awkwardly when you rent and the water may come from a common element. Your contract is with your landlord, so report the problem there first; whether another party should also receive a claim depends on the technical source and legal facts. If you rent, start with who pays for mould in a rented flat, and take a live dispute to local housing or legal advice.
Where we fit, and where we do not
NoMoho works on the visible side: treating mould, preparing damaged damp surfaces, and anti-mould paint on a prepared wall. We do not do waterproofing, roof or façade works, leak repair or ventilation installation, we do not write expert reports, and we take no part in community or insurance disputes. From photos we can usually say whether this is surface work or something whose cause sits elsewhere in the building. Once the source is dealt with, damp ceiling repair is the usual next step for the room that took the water — though we do not promise mould will not come back: how a room is used and ventilated matters.
Send a wide shot, a close-up and a line of context on WhatsApp, in English, and we will read it and reply.